The Air Force is hosting town halls this month to provide updates on the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile project.

The town halls are:

• May 13 at 6 p.m.: Fergus County Fairgrounds, Lewistown
• May 14 at 5 p.m.: Fairfield High School, Fairfield
• May 15 at 6 p.m.: West Elementary School, Great Falls

Questions for the town halls can be submitted here. Questions about the Sentinel program can also be emailed to AFGSC.Sentinel.Hotline@us.af.mil or by calling the Sentinel hotline at Malmstrom Air Force Base at 406-731-2427.

Sentinel is being developed to replace the existing Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system in use at all three missile bases, including Malmstrom.

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The Sentinel program is being restructured following last summer’s Nunn-McCurdy certification process, which was prompted by significant cost overruns.

In January 2024, the Air Force notified Congress that the Sentinel program exceeded its baseline cost projections, causing a critical breach under the federal Nunn-McCurdy Act, which occurs if the program or average unit procurement cost increases by 25 percent of more over the baseline.

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The total program acquisition cost for a “reasonably modified Sentinel program” are now estimated at $140.9 billion, an increase of 81 percent compared to the program’s Milestone B decision in September 2020 when the Air Force awarded a $13.3 billion GBSD engineering and manufacturing development contract to Northrop Grumman.

The Sentinel program cost increase isn’t included included in an April report by the Congressional Budget Office indicating the costs to operate and modernize the U.S. nuclear force through 2034 are projected to rise to $946 billion, 25 percent higher than a 2023 estimate, Reuters reported in April.

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The Sentinel program hasn’t been halted, but “the Air Force has suspended work on specific parts of the project while the program office determines the best way forward,” which includes restructuring the program and assessing the acquisition strategy from a technical and contractual standpoint, Capt. Kaylee Schanda, a public affairs officer for the Secretary of the Air Force, told The Electric in March.

In a Northrop Grumman earning call on Jan. 30, CEO Kathy Warden said “the government has said that they project the restructure to take 18 to 24 months, so we are still very much in that window. And even though they have paused work on some small infrastructure efforts in the command and launch segment, that is reflected in what we have shared with you.”

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Schanda told The Electric that the Air Force is using a collaborative approach to make technical trades, look for cost and schedule reductions, and optimize the weapon system design to meet operational requirements.

Construction of some facilities is underway, but “the Air Force is reassessing the overall project timeline, including military construction at all three missile wings. The Air Force’s budget request for Sentinel will be adjusted to reflect these changes. The revised schedule for transition and deployment activities will not be finalized until the program is restructured,” Schanda told The Electric.

On April 4, the Air Force stood up the Site Activation Task Force Detachment 11 at Malmstrom as part of the ICBM modernization effort.

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Lt. Col. John Mayer assumed command of the new detachment, which oversees the daily operations and activities during the implementation of the Sentinel system upgrade, including the construction of facilities required to operate the new missile system.

A detachment will be located at all three missile wings plus Vandenberg Space Force Base where the Air Force conducts most ICBM related testing.

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The detachments are meant to coordinate subject matter experts from across military and civilian agencies to “identify and execute the necessary tasks, objectives and timeliness of the Sentinel program,” according to the Air Force.

Similar site activation task forces were used in the 1960s for the Minuteman missile system installation, according to the Air Force.

As of now, F.E. Warren is set to be the first Sentinel installation, followed by Malmstrom, then Minot, but that schedule could change as the Air Force restructures the program.

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Mayer said in April that they’re in preparation mode, coordinating on facility design for military construction and trying to assess the manpower needs to prepare Malmstrom for Sentinel.

He said F.E. is leading the pack since they’re first in line on military and utility corridor construction underway, but Mayer’s off base work begins immediately in terms of building relationships with the local community to understand their concerns and share current information.

Community relations is a major component of his work and he said the delays in the overall Sentinel design don’t hold that back and Mayer said he plans to get more proactive.

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Construction on base has been underway for the new weapons generation facility and he said more construction is slated to start this summer.

Off base, he said teams will begin environmental assessments this summer.

He said in April that the workforce hubs are tied to the overall acquisition strategy that is under review so he didn’t have details on that plan yet.

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For launch facilities, Mayer said, the Air Force already owns that land but this summer’s work on environmental assessments will more be tied to the hardened intersite cable system, or HICS, which connects launch control centers to launch facilities to provide the primary communication for the missile command lines.

The Air Force has planned on reusing existing missile silo launch facilities and the AFGSC project information page indicates renovating those siles.

But during April 30 remarks at the Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance Deterrence Center, Gen. Thomas Bussiere, AFGSC commander, said that may not be feasible, though it may add significant cost to the project.

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“Part of the requirements, initially — ten years ago when this program was started — was to reuse the holes, the missile holes at the launch facilities. That was believed to be more efficient, more cost effective and quicker,” Bussiere said. “Shockingly enough, if we look at it [now], that may not be the answer.”

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But a decision hadn’t been made, according to a Breaking Defense report, which also included the following statement from an Air Force spokesperson, “the Air Force continues to assess its options and design concepts as part of doing good systems engineering. While no decision has been made, we expect Sentinel to use predominantly AF-owned real estate to build new missile silos instead of re-using MMIII silos.”